A major figure in American blues and folk music, Big
Bill Broonzy (1903-58) left his Arkansas Delta home
after World War I, headed north, and became the leading
Chicago bluesman of the 1930s. His success came as he
fused traditional rural blues with the electrified sound
that was beginning to emerge in Chicago. This, however,
was just one step in his remarkable journey: Big Bill
was constantly reinventing himself, both in reality and
in his retellings of it. Bob Riesman's groundbreaking
biography tells the compelling life story of a lost
figure from the annals of music history. ''I Feel So
Good'' traces Big Bill's career from his rise as a
nationally prominent blues star, including his historic
1938 appearance at Carnegie Hall, to his influential
role in the post-World War II folk revival, when he sang
about racial injustice alongside Pete Seeger and Studs
Terkel. Riesman's account brings the reader into the
jazz clubs and concert halls of Europe, as Big Bill's
overseas tours in the 1950s ignited the British
blues-rock explosion of the 1960s.Interviews with Eric
Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Ray Davies reveal Broonzy's
profound impact on the British rockers who would follow
him and change the course of popular music. Along the
way, Riesman details Big Bill's complicated and poignant
personal saga: he was married three times and became a
father at the very end of his life to a child half a
world away. He also brings to light Big Bill's final
years, when he lost first his voice, then his life, to
cancer, just as his international reputation was
reaching its peak. Featuring many rarely seen photos, as
well as a foreword by the celebrated music writer and
historian Peter Guralnick, ''I Feel So Good'' will be
the definitive account of Big Bill Broonzy's life and
music. |
|